Microsoft Doubles Down jQuery Bet

By Darryl K. Taft |
Posted 2010-03-16

LAS VEGAS-Here in the land of
the big bet, Microsoft has upped its ante in support of the open-source
JavaScript library known as jQuery.

At its MIX 2010 conference here,
Microsoft announced that it will contribute to the development of new features
and enhancements in the jQuery JavaScript Library and shared the release of new
software development kits (SDKs) for the Open Data Protocol (OData) that make
it easier for developers to access data from the cloud to create more
compelling cross-platform Web applications.

As part of Microsoft's broad engagement with open-source communities,
corporate Vice President Scott Guthrie announced that Microsoft is investing
resources to contribute to the development of the jQuery JavaScript Library to
help improve the development process of standards-based Web applications.
Microsoft will also work to provide better interoperability between ASP.NET
and the jQuery JavaScript Library by enhancing ASP.NET
so .NET developers can better incorporate
jQuery capabilities. In addition, Microsoft will actively promote and
distribute versions of the jQuery JavaScript Library by packaging it with
popular products such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET
MVC 2. As a first step, Microsoft will
contribute a templating engine to the jQuery JavaScript Library Team to
simplify Web applications.

During Guthrie's portion of the MIX10 keynote on March 16, John Resig, the
creator of jQuery, took to the stage to express his enthusiasm for Microsoft's
support for the jQuery project. Microsoft support for jQuery is not new; the
company has used it and supported it for more than a year.

"We're really excited to be working with Microsoft here on
jQuery," Resig said. "We're very happy Microsoft has taken the
opportunity to enhance it and build an excellent library."

Resig said the jQuery team started working with Microsoft on an experimental
templating project, "and we've been using the traditional jQuery
development process on GitHub."

Brian Goldfarb, director of developer platform marketing at Microsoft, said
the jQuery news was a big highlight for his team, as Microsoft has been
investing in open-source technology in an ongoing way and doing it "in a
way that's compatible with the community." He said his team has
contributed "people resources" to the jQuery effort in the form of
Microsoft staff who have worked on the jQuery initiative on a full-time basis.

Indeed, Goldfarb will take part in a panel at the Open Source Business
Conference in San Francisco on
March 18, where he said he plans to make the case that Microsoft is in the
unique position to be able to invest in and support open-source software in
ways that few other companies can.

Microsoft offers full support for the jQuery technology when it comes to
Microsoft customers, Goldfarb said. Also, Goldfarb said Microsoft's work with
jQuery is very much in line with the company's strategy of meeting open source
where it is. For instance, with its work with the CodePlex Foundation, Microsoft
is working to support open-source efforts that touch Microsoft platform
technology. However, that technology resides with the CodePlex Foundation or
even in Microsoft's internal CodePlex open-source project hosting site. Yet, in
the jQuery case, Microsoft is working through jQuery's existing GitHub
arrangement.

In response to an article about the Microsoft/jQuery relationship on Ajaxian.com, a
poster identified as Jadet said:

"That seals the deal, jQuery wins. I should probably be porting stuff
over right now. Microsoft wanting to invest resources in open source is a nice
change, not sure how I feel about that yet, hopefully it doesn't hurt the
library in the end. Personally, jQuery is getting a bit old for me; I think
resources are better spent on something fresh. Looking back we can do better
these days. I'm looking forward to the day we can all get hyped over a new
generation of JavaScript frameworks."

Another responder identified as NerdInACan said:

"I REALLY don't want to see Microsoft sneaking any of their
poorly-architected mess into an otherwise fantastic library. I have yet to see
any Microsoft code library show up without a bunch of proprietary strings
attached. Sure it all works ok if you use their browser, their integrated
security, yada yada. As soon as you want to do anything like grown-up, however,
things get a lot more convoluted, and that's when Microsoft code fails. Every
time."